Noble Rose

Noble Rose is one of the more straightforward fragrances that I have tried so far. Everything that is in the perfume is there from the beginning and it only loses character over time, which is not exactly a favorable start to a review, I have to admit. Moreover, Noble Rose is the fourth fragrance (of four tested so far) in the discovery set of the Collection Absolue that dried down into abstract lipsticky sweetness on my skin and that is irritating, to say the least. But first things first. Noble Rose starts with quite a blast. The notes list "Turkish Delight" or "Lokum" and it's a good approximation of what you can expect. Primarily, it's rosey, syrupy sweetness. Bordering on the cloying variant. In the beginning, this is accentuated by a light soapiness, a little bit of citrussy freshness and a berry-like depth that offers a decent amount of nuance. These accents help the perfume along its opening moments, yet never play enough of a role to distract from what this is primarily: Heavy, sweet, rose. Over the course of the next two hours, the accents gradually fade away and what stays is what is always there: A very syrupy rose. There's a creamy quality to the scent that does make it feel a little better and smoother throughout its lifetime but that, too, doesn't take away from the overbearing sweetness, it just mellows it a little. It's heavy, it's pretty projecting and there's nothing "girlish" about it, for lack of a better word, despite its sweetness. It's warm in the sense that it's not a fresh fragrance and in that "sweet" often goes hand in hand with "warm" but it lacks depth and character after the opening hour or so and it doesn't have any comforting qualities to it. And in the end, from three to four hours in, the perfume devolves into the same abstract, lipsticky sweetness that the previous fragrances in the line also went to and I have to ask why they all smell similar after a relatively short while. While I can accept that this particular variant of sweetness just doesn't do much for me on a subjective level, having so many fragrances in a release dry down into the same kind of smell is... irritating and disappointing.

There is rose here... but there is nothing noble about it. It's not inovative in any way and in my opinion very forgetable. Quite disappointing, considering the price tag.

Similar to Montale Intense Cafe without the coffee note.